Ryan Reaves Faces Tough Ultimatum: His Job With the Toronto Maple Leafs is On the Line
Ryan Reaves hasn't lived up to his standards in 2024/25, and now it appears the Maple Leafs enforcer is fighting for his role on the team.
The Toronto Maple Leafs have fought off a slow start this season and have become quite the deep, loaded team that many expected them to be in 2024/25. However, there's one major weakness on this team and that is their constant desire to play Ryan Reaves, and according to Jay Rosehill, if he doesn't drop the gloves against Arber Xhekaj of the Montreal Canadiens, it could be the end of his role in Toronto, at least for a while.
In years past, a player like Reaves would have sparked his team several times during down periods with a big hit, an energetic shift or a fight victory, but this season he's been reluctant to do any of that, and it's costing him in the eyes of the team and the fans. In fact, this season he's had opportunities against Xhekaj and Rangers stud Matt Rempe, but ultimately he has declined, and with his only strength being ignored by the player, it's unclear how long he can stay in the lineup.
Reaves has been scratched for a few games this season, and in 11 games played, he has 0 goals, 0 assists, 0 points and most shocking of all, he's yet to go to the box with 0 penalty minutes. Given the amount of skill this team has up front, they don't need Reaves to be out there pretending he is at that level, they need him to be gritty, tough and to hit some people, and if that doesn't happen, expect a big change to be made.
| POLL | ||
NOVEMBRE 8 | 199 ANSWERS Ryan Reaves Faces Tough Ultimatum: His Job With the Toronto Maple Leafs is On the Line Should Ryan Reaves have a spot in the Toronto Maple Leafs lineup? | ||
| Yes | 63 | 31.7 % |
| No | 136 | 68.3 % |
| LIST OF POLLS | ||
| G | A | PTS | ||
| Mikko Rantanen | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| Jake Debrusk | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Dylan Guenther | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Connor McDavid | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
| Ivan Barbashev | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Jack Eichel | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Brock Nelson | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Valeri Nichushkin | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Clayton Keller | - | 3 | 3 | |
| Anthony Cirelli | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Jonathan Drouin | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Roman Josi | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kirill Marchenko | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Kyle Palmieri | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Artemi Panarin | 2 | - | 2 | |
| Sebastian Aho | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Evan Bouchard | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Rasmus Dahlin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Leon Draisaitl | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Matt Duchene | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Complete stats | ||||
| STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Jets | 20 | 17 | 3 | - | 34 | |
Wild | 19 | 13 | 3 | 3 | 29 | |
Hurricanes | 19 | 14 | 5 | - | 28 | |
Devils | 22 | 13 | 7 | 2 | 28 | |
Capitals | 19 | 13 | 5 | 1 | 27 | |
Golden Knights | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Maple Leafs | 20 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 26 | |
Rangers | 18 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 25 | |
Panthers | 20 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 25 | |
Flames | 20 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 25 | |
| Conference | Cumulative | ||||||